While teacher librarians and school library services continue to adapt to the needs of their students and school community in response to student learning needs, the future is not always rosy.e have been given comprehensive evidence that in Australia there is indeed a crisis in school librarianship, and that we need to be talking about it.

HuffPost is hitting the road this fall to interview people about their hopes, dreams, fears ― and what it means to be American today.No disrespect to your e-reader or anything, but nothing beats curling up with an actual book. There’s just something about the smell of dusty pages, the crack of a new spine and a bookshelf filled with old favorites. Not to mention how a real book will never run out of batteries. Even better? Get yourself a library card and the cost of a new read is totally free. Here, the best library in every state where you’ll definitely want to get lost in the stacks.

I’ve joked for a long time that if you walked up to people in the street and asked them whether we could own our greatest treasures collectively and trust people to walk away with them and bring them back, a lot of people would say that’s impossibly idealistic and some would say it’s socialist, but libraries have been making books free for all for a very long time. They are temples of books, fountains of narrative pleasure, and toolboxes of crucial information. My own writing has depended on public libraries and then university libraries and archives and does to this day. I last used a public library the day before yesterday.”

While volunteering in refugee camps in Greece, Laura Samira Naude and Esther ten Zijthoff realised that the people they met needed more than food and shelter: they wanted to study, to work for their future and to find a sense of purpose. Naude and Zijthoff were determined to provide a quiet space, amid the upheaval and uncertainty, where people could use their time rather than just fill it. The pair decided to launch Education Community Hope and Opportunity (Echo) and open a library on wheels.

Friends in London and Belgium did the fundraising and fitted out an old minibus with shelves and computer points for internet access, then drove it to Greece. The two then appealed for books in Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi, French, Greek and English, slowly filling the shelves and finally opening in November. They now have about 1,300 books – including some in storage because they don’t fit into the van – and welcome an average of 115 readers a week. So far, they have loaned out 904 books. “We have also lost many books along the way, as they inevitably go missing, and sometimes, especially with language-learning books, we let people keep them and then make copies to keep up with the demand,” says Zijthoff.

Stuart KellsStuart Kells is an author and book-trade historian. His latest book, The Library, is out now

Saturday 26 August 2017 23.09 BSTI recently had the privilege of circling the world to write a book about libraries. My timing was excellent: after a short-lived e-books scare, physical books are back in fashion, and libraries are the place to be.

My trip was not unlike the pilgrimages made by 18th-century library tourists. On my journey I noticed two trends that are changing how we think of old books and old libraries.

The first is a stronger focus on provenance research. Through whose hands have the books passed? How did those handlers use and mark and protect their books? This branch of bibliography is helping to humanise it.

Library fauna such as bookworms, bedbugs and microbats have long been the subject of studyThe other trend involves breaking away from traditional ideas of what constitutes a meritorious book, and from the traditional oppositions of high and low literature. Thanks to this, pulp novels – featuring what Allen Lane called “bosoms and bottoms” cover art – have infiltrated rare book collections. Crime pulps and sci-fi paperbacks are now prized by such hallowed institutions as the Smithsonian, the Houghton and the British Library.

A treasured US institution opens itself to the painstaking view of fly-on-the-wall master Frederick Wiseman, who finds enlightenment, humour, compassion and soul within its walls

Frederick Wiseman, who can reasonably be called one of the most groundbreaking film-makers still working, has spent his entire career taking deep dives on very specific topics. It’s maybe something of a punchline that now, at age 87, his latest subject is everything. For over 50 years Wiseman’s all-seeing, fly-on-the-wall cinema has visited institutions (a psychiatric hospital, a park, a museum, a concert venue, a school), gobbled it all up and served it back in an edited form that, while avoiding a traditional three-act structure, links sequences that build to a rich, almost-transcendent understanding. Lord knows others ape the style, but few compare.

Ex Libris: New York Public Library has the drive of a vociferous reader checking out and renewing the maximum number of books their card will allow. Its running time of three hours and 17 minutes is generous enough to succeed on multiple levels. The most prominent theme is the divide between rich and poor, and what the NYPL means in different neighbourhoods. The gorgeous main branch on Fifth Avenue with its marble lions serves a different function than the outposts in the economically disadvantaged outer boroughs. On Fifth Avenue, a “Books at noon” guest like Richard Dawkins will wax about the Enlightenment; off Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx, the community huddles up for job interview tips.

The only recurring characters are the caring and determined administrators (some googling puts faces to names; by and large Wiseman doesn’t care for formal introductions) who agonise over the budget and try to anticipate changes in digital technology. There are side trips to speciality branches, such as Lincoln Center’s Library for the Performing Arts, Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Mid-Manhattan Library’s fabled picture collection and the Braille and Talking Book Library in Lower Manhattan. Most of the visits focus on a community activity or guest speaker about a panoply of topics (sexual innuendo at Jewish delicatessens, the logistics of deaf interpretation at theatrical events, misguided Marxist defences of slavery among 19th-century southern intellectuals, Gabriel García Márquez) and each one is absolutely fascinating.

FIVE LAWS OF LIBRARY SCIENCE ➨ The Five laws of library science is a theory proposed by S. R. Ranganathan in 1931, detailing the principles of operating a library system. Five laws of library science are called the set of norms, percepts, and guides to good practice in librarianship. Many librarians worldwide accept them as the foundations of their philosophy. Dr. S.R. Ranganathan conceived the Five Laws of Library Science in 1924. The statements embodying these laws were formulated in 1928. These laws were first published in Ranganathan's classic book entitled Five Laws of Library Science in 1931.

These laws are: Books are for use. Every reader his / her book. Every book its reader. Save the time of the reader. The library is a growing organism

From libraries without books, like the songlines of the first Australians, to the library of Alexandria, the Bodleian, the Folger, and even the fabled libraries of Middle-earth and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, my new book The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders unlocks the bookish places that continue to capture our imaginations.

What exactly are libraries for? Scores of rationales have been put forward; scores of stories have been told. Libraries are an attempt to impose order in a world of chaos. They are signifiers of power (consider the libraries of Mesopotamian kings and American presidents) and prestige (remember the libraries of America's robber barons). They are an aide-mémoire of the species, a network of sanctuaries, a civilising influence in the New World, places of solace and education, sources of nourishment for the human spirit, cultural staging posts in which new arrivals can be inducted into their adopted countries. They are places for social connection and the creation of "social capital". They are places in which to give birth. They are places of redemption.

Some three hundred librarians from all parts of the country, as well as several visitors from Canada and the United States, attended the annual meeting of the Library Association, which was opened at Exeter yesterday and will be continued to-day and to-morrow. The president for the year is Mr. Frederick George Kenyon, Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum, and his presidential address formed one of the most interesting features of the morning sitting, which was held at the Guildhall. The Mayor, Mr. H. H. Wippell, attended with the Sheriff, Colonel Cardew, and gave a civic welcome.

From the archive, 20 September 1922: Librarians guiding the reading public

The President’s addressThe President, in his address, classified books in three categories – the literature of the imagination, the literature of knowledge, and the literature of pastime. The reading-room of the British Museum subserved almost exclusively the literature of knowledge, but the librarians of free libraries were in a happier position, for they not only served the purposes of the literature of knowledge, but also dealt largely in the literature of pastime, and they were only too glad to guide a reader’s steps towards the literature of imagination.

While the British Museum library was in the main an instrument of knowledge, the free libraries and local libraries in general were, in addition, instruments of culture. In co-operation with our universities and religious organisations they were the main factor in the intellectual culture of the nation, and stood in the forefront of the agencies for good on which the future of the nation depended.

On a recent trip to the West Chicago Public Library, a 3-year-old girl found a children's book featuring illustrations of a gay pride parade and asked her mother what it was about.

The mother, Michaela Jaros, was surprised at the content of the book and thought it wasn't age-appropriate. She filed a complaint with the library, and her husband, Kurt Jaros, asked the library board if the material could be removed or moved out of the children's section.

Highlights from Santa Monica Public Library's ‘pop up‘ beach library at Santa Monica Beach on Saturday, August 26, 2017. The beach library featured a curated collection of books for readers of all ages, a Surfside Lounge to relax and grab some shade, and beach-themed activities for the whole family. Programs includes Seaside Story Time for Kids, Brazilian Dance and Drumming, and Show and Tell with the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. Librarians were on-hand to sign out books, answer questions and demonstrate cutting edge library apps, eBooks and streaming media. #SMPLatTheBeach

Freedoms of access to information and expression online are at risk. The spread of deliberately misleading information risks undermining confidence in the Internet, while heavy-handed reactions from authorities and platforms limit fundamental human rights.

For IFLA, neither of these solutions is desirable. When people are disconnected from the Internet, they risk losing access to the information and ideas that strengthen development and enrichen lives. IFLA developed its infographic on how to spot fake news as a simple yet effective tool to provide an alternative, based on conviction that education provides the best way to give users confidence, and governments no excuse for unnecessary censorship.

IFLA’s infographic has been a big success. It has been translated into 37 languages, and has featured in newsletters, course-packs, and on CNN International. The success was also the result of the creative thinking of information professionals who used the infographics in different ways, tailoring it to local needs.

The Library of the Finnish Parliament introduced the infographic at the Parliament “Committee of the Future” meeting, and it has featured in a number of articles and essays

.The United States’s public libraries sometimes seem to me the last refuges of a democratic vision of equality, places in which everyone is welcome, which serve the goal of an informed public, offering services far beyond the already heady gift of free books you can take home, everything from voter registration to computer access. I’ve joked for a long time that if you walked up to people in the street and asked them whether we could own our greatest treasures collectively and trust people to walk away with them and bring them back, a lot of people would say that’s impossibly idealistic and some would say it’s socialist, but libraries have been making books free for all for a very long time. They are temples of books, fountains of narrative pleasure, and toolboxes of crucial information. My own writing has depended on public libraries and then university libraries and archives and does to this day. I last used a public library the day before yesterday

The Foundation’s transformational $55 million gift will support the creation of a modern, central branch to hold the Library’s largest circulating collection and offer countless programs for children, teens, and adults. In addition, it will help establish an inspiring “Midtown campus” that will reconnect the circulating library with the Library’s iconic research center, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, across Fifth Avenue. The gift also establishes an endowment for programming at the renovated library. The Mid-Manhattan Library renovation is expected to be complete in 2020, when the building will reopen as The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL). In total, the Foundation has supported the Library with grants of over $60 million. The Library’s Board of Trustees Executive Committee approved the renaming at a recent meeting, and it was announced at the full Board of Trustees meeting this evening.

U.S. public libraries often transform into shelters during emergencies.After Superstorm Sandy, for example, the Princeton Public Library in New Jersey and the New Canaan Library in Connecticut gave the public somewhere to charge devices, contact loved ones, or even just watch movies. Other New Jersey libraries went further: The Roxbury Public Library opened early and closed late, and South Orange’s library became its primary evacuation center.

Libraries don’t just pitch in following natural disasters. In August 2014, the Ferguson Municipal Public Library became a safe space amid the unrest that followed the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, by a police officer in the St. Louis suburb. And when local schools started the school year two weeks behind schedule, leaving students in the lurch, the library even hosted informal classes for hundreds of students.

As millions of people in cities, suburbs, and towns are reeling from Hurricane Harvey, nearby public libraries will soon play a critical role in creating a sense of normalcy for all ages — but especially for kids and teens. To help more public libraries emulate these examples with their young patrons, I teamed up with three graduate students to create a youth services toolkit to help librarians pitch in during emergencies. It will soon be available in a digital format at the Library of Michigan’s Youth Library Services website

Kensal Rise Library in London, where volunteers have set up a community library. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

Readers checking a book out of the village library might not immediately notice much of a difference, but Congresbury is the latest public library to haven been handed over “to the community”. You may be used to libraries being run by volunteers – maybe your local is – but this structure is relatively new. Over the last decade, as many libraries began closing across the UK due to swingeing cuts to local authority funding by central government – 121 libraries closed last year alone – some have instead been handed over by councils to the community to run.

Since librarian Ian Anstice began charting the cuts to UK libraries on his campaigning website Public Libraries News in 2010, 500 of the UK’s 3,850 remaining libraries have now been taken over, at least in part, by volunteers. “I’ve been looking at the count going up steadily for the last few years,” says Anstice. “In 2010, there were a handful – perhaps 10 in the whole country. So this is quite a staggering change.”

Paid library staff fell by almost 1,000 in the year to March 2016, from 18,028 to 17,064, according to official figures from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa). In the same period, volunteer numbers rose by more than 3,000, from 41,402 to 44,501.

Anstice warns that the rise in volunteer-run libraries is masking how dramatic the decline in the library service actually is

Over a five-day period, Hurricane Harvey devastated the Gulf Coast area of southeastern Texas and parts of Louisiana. More than 50 inches of rain fell, killing at least 66 people, displacing 30,000 others, and causing up to $190 billion in damages. When skies finally cleared at the end of August, cleanup efforts began in earnest. In Rockport, where Harvey first made landfall on August 25, the Aransas County Public Library sustained major damage and has not reopened, and at the Ellis Memorial Library in Port Aransas, the collection was described in a Facebook post as “a total loss.” The Houston area, to the northwest, received more scattered damage, and by the Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend, the Houston Public Library (HPL) and Harris County Public Library (HCPL) had reopened a number of their branches. They will continue to do so on a rolling basis—but it will be months before services approach business as usual.

Two library systems in the Kansas City, MO, area have found themselves at the center of challenges to free speech. An event last spring at the Kansas City Public Library (KCPL) resulted in the arrests of a both patron who spoke at a public lecture and the librarian who defended him. And in August, at the nearby Grandview branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL), two security guards resigned in protest of a book display originally titled “Black Lives Matter,” although the library changed the title. Both incidents, while different in tenor and outcome, highlight the role of libraries as defenders of free speech and safe spaces for dissent. ADDED SECURITY On May 9, KCPL hosted diplomat Dennis Ross to speak at the inaugural Truman and Israel Lecture, a joint venture of KCPL, the Truman Library Institute, and the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) of Greater Kansas City. Ross’s engagement consisted of both private and public appearances—first as a private event for 200 JCF members, and continuing in the library’s large auditorium as a lecture for the general public.

Most know the last week in September best as bringing the start of autumn. However, for book lovers and First Amendment aficionados, it’s also the time for the national weeklong celebration of books that have been banned. In Washington, D.C., home to the world’s largest library, the Library of Congress, the District’s public library system is planning an eye-opening treat for interested residents.

The Public Library Foundation, the library’s fundraising arm, hid 600 copies of six books—The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid’s Tale, Parable of the Sower, We, and Who Fears Death—around greater D.C. and challenged residents to locate them. As part of this year’s theme, “Texts Against Tyranny,” these titles feature settings or societies where books are restricted or banned, and some themselves have come up for restriction or censure. Lucky residents who find a copy will get a special edition to add to their collections. However, book sleuths who locate a copy of all six titles will find that the covers combine to form a special hidden image. The covers are devoid of anything except quotes, disguising their true nature to onlookers as a reminder of the ways readers of the past would disguise banned literature behind false covers so they would not be caught.

"This is a place that's meant to be used by people who make things." Who doesn't love the library? Zipporah Films has released the first official trailer for the documentary Ex Libris: New York Public Library, the latest from legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. As the title clearly indicates, this doc is about the beloved, famous New York Public Library, probably best known in pop culture from the original Ghostbuster movies (the opening sequence takes place there). Wiseman's extensive 4-hour film examines the history and the legacy of the library, taking us inside the walls and down the many corridors. Did you know that the New York Public Library system actually has 92 branches spread around the five boroughs? This seems like an utterly fascinating and sublime doc about the glory of libraries, and the power they have.

A home for the homeless: Rachael Rivera and the Auckland Library StreetiesSome amazing things go on in libraries around the world. One that has stood out to me, and to others, is the work Auckland Libraries are doing with the homeless, including regular cinema screenings. I am very pleased that Rachael Rivera was able to find the time to talk to me about the work she and her team are doing.Why did you become a public librarian?I fell into it, age 15. I’ve done this job all my life, and I am infinitely grateful to have fallen into the world’s best and most rewarding profession. Some days I just walk around the library and I see kids singing, people creating on our 3D printer, people laughing and learning, and I think what is this magical place!? It’s just extraordinary.I’ve read a little about the regular cinema screenings for the homeless. What led you to do this?

It all started with a report written by a local charity group- Lifewise. The report detailed the experience of being homeless in Auckland City and there was a lot of reference to the Central Library fulfilling the role of a ‘lounge’ for rough sleepers. It was named as a place people came for community and relaxation time, access to computers and a chance to keep in touch with family and friends.

I’m always trying to maximize what happens during library orientation each year. This year, I asked myself what I really hoped students experienced on their very first visit. Yes, there are many expectations and rules I could go over, but what message do I send if that’s how I spend our time on day 1. Instead, I wanted to focus on the power of reading and give students time to explore the genres of the library.

IFLA Library Map of the World is a representative source of basic library statistics and a robust tool providing country-level data and a worldwide comparison of different library performance metrics by region.

Libraries are leading promoters and providers of free access to all types of information to all citizens. To show the potential of the global library field, the Library Map of the World features all types of libraries, including national, academic, public, community, school, and special libraries. The initial set of performance metrics include number of libraries, number of libraries providing internet access, number of staff and volunteers, number of registered users and visitors, and number of loans.

As an advocacy tool, the Library Map of the World is also a platform providing access to SDG stories demonstrating how libraries in different countries contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and serve as partners in meeting local development needs.

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